The Story of Dame Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith, born December 28, 1934, passed away on September 27, 2024, in a London hospital at the age of 89. As one of Britain’s most recognized and prolific actresses, her death shook the internet.

For one of the most well-known actresses in the world, she only amassed such fame towards the end of her life. She started as a young, ambitious play actress playing funny and witty characters.

During her school years, she studied acting at the Oxford Playhouse School. Soon after, she began appearing in revenues and landed a lead comedian role in the London revue Share My Lettuce (1957–58). In this time period, she appeared in numerous plays at the Old Vic Theater in London.

She made her on-screen debut in 1958 but didn’t receive the Academy Award for Best Actress until 1969 for her role in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Throughout the beginning of her film career, she established herself as a talented actress, receiving six Oscar nominations and winning two of them between 1965 and 1978.

Smith is most known in recent years for her role as a stubborn Victorian widowed mother, Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey (2010-2015), and her role as Minerva McGonagall, a stern Transfiguration professor in the Harry Potter (2001-2011) franchise. It is widely known that J.K. Rowling herself requested Smith for the role. In that decade of filming, Smith became an unforgettable face in the acting world. Suddenly, in her mid-70s, Smith started gaining public recognition and became one of the most revered actresses of her time.

Her death just two months ago was a huge loss to all who knew her and all who watched her. Her Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe took to social media to give his statement: “She was a fierce intellect, a gloriously sharp tongue, could intimidate and charm in the same instant and was, as everyone will tell you, extremely funny…The word legend is overused, but if it applies to anyone in our industry, then it applies to her.”

Works Cited:

Berkvist, Robert. “Maggie Smith, Grande Dame of Stage and Screen, Dies at 89.” The New York Times, 30 September 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/27/arts/maggie-smith-dead.html. Accessed 3 November 2024.

Eldridge, Alison, and Barbara A. Schreiber. “Harry Potter

Character, Books, Movies, & Facts.” Britannica, 9 September 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Harry-Potter. Accessed 3 November 2024.

“Maggie Smith.” IMDb, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001749/. Accessed 3 November 2024.

Mondello, Bob. “Sharp tongued, indomitable, and beloved actress Dame Maggie Smith, dies at 89.” OPB, 27 September 2024, https://www.opb.org/article/2024/09/27/actress-maggie-smith-dies-at-89/. Accessed 8 December 2024.